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EU accountants scorn 'public interest'

Thursday 17 March 2011 - by Andrew Hickley

The Federation of European Accountants has rebuked the International Federation of Accountants over proposals to introduce a public interest professional requirement.

Questioning the objective of implementing a "primarily process-driven" evaluation of whether public interest is being served, FEE argues that proposals on the table are inappropriate.

Published in November, the IFAC's exposure draft highlights three principles to "verify and gauge" the extent to which public interest can be addressed.

This approach aims to highlight the costs and benefits for society as a whole, adherence to democratic principles and processes, and respect of cultural and ethical diversity, as issues that must be considered within the profession.

FEE however strongly encourages a move away from describing the needs of the public, implying support for a more principles-based approach.


The IFAC proposals detail the public simply as "the widest possible scope of society", while their interests are considered "all things valued by society", according to FEE. It says that this makes defining the public interest impossible.

The federation adds that its members question the benefits of this public interest.

It says: "In order to set expectations right, some put forward that this [exposure draft] should be about the value IFAC and its independent standard setting board bring to society, rather than about attempting to define the public interest or create a conceptual framework for the public interest as the latter might create an expectation gap."

The federation also raises questions over who should act in the public interest, with no distinction made between whether professional bodies or individual members of the profession should adhere to it.

"Its impact on the standard setting activities of the independent standard setting bodies of IFAC as well as on the implementation of their standards are considered to be equally unclear," FEE says in its reply, submitted on Thursday.

"Finally, in addition to questioning the feasibility, objective and scope of the IFAC proposals, many also questioned their applicability and implementation and they are therefore not convinced that IFAC should attempt to come up with a public interest framework for the accountancy profession," it concludes.


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